Gunk in the Gas Tank???

[Magoo]

guys let me explain what's at work here & more over my personal experience with petroleum based products the likes of the dredded ethanol based fuels.first off I work for the fl dept of agriculture as a petroleum inspector.I do gas pump calibration checks & fuel sampling @ the 425 stations assigned to me in NE Florida.what you are experiencing is the delamination (so to speak ) of the tank lining material caused by the ethanol based gas we now are forced to use.case in point recently visited a marina in palatka fl & the owner had a hatteras with 2 new rebuilt engines that lost 4 of the 8 cycles with in a 20 minute run down river,the hatteras had to be towed back.after checking the fuel system out it was discovered that the gelgoat lining the fibergalss tank had desolved & clogged the filters and also made it to the cyclinders and and left a black glass burned mess to the cylinder walls.the owner took the fuel samples in a jar let the ethanol evaporate after a few days and took the left over glass coating and added hardener to it and the fiberglass rehardened back to like new condition.ethanol in cars and trucks (especiallly gm/ford) products early on were vulneralble to filter clogging due to ethanol seperation & condensation & debris build up.this ethanol cleans like a white tornado.to this day I have periods where consumers still report bad gas which tuns out to be self induced due to low volume gas purchases and then blasting fresh ethanol in on a empty tank thus causing the dirt/water bild up to stay suspended in the fuel then only to be sucked into the filter when the engine is re-lit and driven a few miles.sorry for the length of this responce but that's what's happening because of the corn based fuels we are be forced to use.:up: also spoke with tank at BD in tampa tuesday bout him having the same problem with his bike and others that sit for a while.

So what's the best way to store/winterize a bike so as to not damage the liner?

 

[pknowles]

Dumb Ass question? Other than rust problems, what does the liner do and why doesn,t Harley line their tanks? I posted on this before about the liner coming out of my o7 Bulldog and the factory said that they had to boil the old liner out. It took a hell of alot more time than one week. When you boil the liner you f**k the paint(ie new paint). new liner still looking good so far. Yea out of warrenty but they footed the bill which I do appreaciate but don't understand.

 

[nine lives]

Harley does line there tanks. I've done a few with Kreem brand, did one of my own bikes (92 softail crack near the bung) and didn't get the all original Harley liner out, Kreem liner didn't take and had to pull it out through the filler opening, came out like a balloon then had to do it again, also silver soldered the crack. FYI- Kreem does use an acid etch, but you have to get all the old liner out, I've filled tanks with bolts and shook the hell out of them, pain in the ass job.

 

[PaulHart]

Ok I wonder if BDM is still using the same product to line their tanks. If not at what point did they stop using the liner system that is failing. I have a 09' so am I safe or not? When I did my braided line and put on a new shut off valve I noticed some very small flakes of some almost clear material around the screen but nothing like the pictures I'm seeing here.

 

[montana]

2-3 months? I sent my tank back to get the paint redone (under warranty) and took 2 months. Finally got it back and heard the clanging of the liner about the size of a large potato chip bouncing around inside the tank. :bang: Called B-D and they said to send it back and they will dissolve the old liner and spray in a new one. Why didn't they do it while they had it there the 1st time? I asked how long it will take and they told me a week. Sent it back a week ago, I hope their time frame was true! Been without the whole dog for way too long already!:angry:

I'm going by the time frame told to my by my dealership. I hope they're wrong too.

 

[BadBrad]

The Caswell tank liner I used in Rocky's Mastiff is holding up great! Only took a few hours. Most of the time is in prep and disassembly. I took a lot of pics so I could write up a "how to" but still to this day can't find my camera. The Caswell is formulated for the new ethenol fuels.

 

[Jones]

Here is some of the stuff that came out of my tank....
I also posted the link with a bunch of other pics from the tank. They no longer use this method of coating the tanks and replaced mine. Unfortunately it rattles like crazy where the original did not on the frame. I put a extra shim behind the rubber boot on one side to see if it stop it from rattling on the frame but it still does it. Maybe I need a extra shim on the other side as well but it is a bitch trying to rotate the grommets in now to lock the tank down. Much worse when the tank is not full.
Neil

http://www.bigdogbiker.com/forums/efi-topics/7703-fuel-pump-raising-cane.html

I bet you have a busted vent tube banging around inside your tank. I posted a fix for that. do a search , youll find it .

Regards Juice.

 

[Mangy Mutt]

So what's the best way to store/winterize a bike so as to not damage the liner?

Thinking out side of the box here. How about removing the ethanol from the gas. I have been looking around as to how to do this and so far two ways keep poping up. I'm no chemist but: 1 way is heating and filtering with a GPI/CIM-TEK spin on filterhead or mixing the gas with water and let water/alchol seperate from gas over night suck the gas of the top and then run it threw a marine water seperator just to be sure. Just an idea

 

[kmalysa]

The Caswell tank liner I used in Rocky's Mastiff is holding up great! Only took a few hours. Most of the time is in prep and disassembly. I took a lot of pics so I could write up a "how to" but still to this day can't find my camera. The Caswell is formulated for the new ethenol fuels.

Hey Brad,
How is your liner holding up as of now? Mine is as bad as yours was... Fuel Tank Services just quoted me $700.00, pretty pricy. Warranty for life but damb that is pricy!
I never did find your 'How too"?

I understand you used nuts and bolts and rolled them around inside, did you also use something to break down the liner, or did you just roll the nuts and bolts around dry????

Would you still recommend Caswell?
Thanks,
Ken

 

[stlmikie]

Ive seen guys take and put thinner and marbles or nutz and bolts and pad the outside of the take and put it in a paint shaker.

 

[Nomad2day]

I bet you have a busted vent tube banging around inside your tank. I posted a fix for that. do a search , youll find it .

Regards Juice.

I doubt it......
Big Dog sent me a new tank when this happened on my 07 Bulldog with the new process for doing the tanks...
I was using Lucas fuel treatment and was wondering if it helped loosen the liner???? It appears I am not the only one with the issue. On a side note, it clogged up my fuel pump as well which is what lead me to open up the tank on my EFI bike...
I did read your write up though....
Neil

 

[kmalysa]

Interesting... I can see doing this by hand will be slow going.

 

[Bushpilot]

What years of bikes are affected by this? is it all big dogs?

 

[stlmikie]

Im not positive but I don't think it it related to the year of the the bike. It may seem like a common thing. I don't think it is, relative to the number of bike sold anyway.